Workers commuting into and out of the city have long been characterized as utilizing and benefiting from city resources while not contributing their fair share.

While thankfully Mayor Papenfuse's positioning of the local service tax does not engage in the type of demagoguery of his predecessor (Former Mayor Linda Thompson's "Perry County scumbags" imbroglio), it does play from the same sheet music. Commuters labeled by the mayor as being those "who can afford it," need to contribute.

Naturally, Papenfuse and the city, desperately want to exit Act 47 status but this proposal to continue to squeeze workers in the city as a plan to reach solvency is a path to continued failure.

Should the Legislature decide to grant the city the power to charge commuters $52 a years plus 2 percent it will be both a temporary fix and another cause for some to flee the city.

Harrisburg city politicians will has shifted the burden from property tax paying voters to commuters. Leaving the city crying poor again when businesses and individuals choose their only way to vote and leave the city entirely.